[That last post about everything revolving around my seg was written before I read Aris' seg. Turns out I'm revolving around her ;-)] Seg: Symphonia Machina There was always a slight hum in the room, but just then it jumped up about 30 decibels. 'Wha?' muttered Selvane as he whipped around. The other 2 dozen or so people present had the same reaction. Everyone was glancing around uneasily, and and sneaking looks at the empty gate. He looked at Nexxus. They had met only moments before, but she knew more than he did. 'Is this normal?' Nexxus shrugged, 'We haven't exactly used this gate on too many personel before... I haven't used it. I'm not really sure,' she said sheepishly. 'Reassuring,' Selvane muttered as he glanced around. 'What was that?' Nexxus shouted over the hum. 'The noise is distrubing!' he shouted back. 'Don't want to get my CO angery at me after the first 5 minutes,' he thought. In the corner at a bank of consoles was Malcalypse. Selvane recognized him from his inital contact with VRDET. The lean dark figure looked stressed and worried. One moment he was bent over a monitor, the next he was pounding furuiusly at some controls and yelling at a tech. This was not a reassuring sight. Suddenly the main lights went out. The air crackled with electricty, and pink and blue glow was cast about the room. The hum changed to a whine, and then the hum returned, louder than before, in a great racket of electric noise that took on a life if it's own. Selvane whipped around to see the gate. Pink and blue light flooded and pulsated from the door to nowhere. Electricity crackled through the air, and small flicks of hit shot out from the corners of the gate. The smell of ozone permeated the chamber. Everybody stood riveted, staring into the glowing abyss, their features etched in the pulsating light, their shadows dancing to the pulse and rhythm of the gate. The eerie glow was the only light in the room, the tremendous whine and hum of the machinery and crackling of electricity the only sounds. 'Symphonia Machina,' he whispered. From behind the small crowd of dazed people Malcalypse could barely be heard over the roar 'Go! You're good to go! Move!' The people started to move. One after another they surged up the stairs and threw themselves into the abyss, trusting God and machine to deliver them. Sparks flew and the ozone smell increased. Selvane was second to last, behind Nexxus. Behind him was a strangely clad woman. Spandex and sword, she looked like something out of a AD&D adventure. It was nearing Selvane's turn. Nexxus flew through the portal, but as Selvane tried to surge up the stairs, something help him back. A surge of energy shot from the portal, knocking him back a few feet. The pink grew brighter and blue changed hues to green. The crackle of electricity rose to a deafening roar, 'Not good,' he muttered. Selvane looked over to Mal, a look on his face that looked like, 'what the hell do I do?' Malcalypse saw the look, 'Get in the fucking portal or you're all staying home! It's about to collapse!' he roared. It was enough for Selvane. 'Psalm 91*, Lord,' he muttered, and through himself into the light. * Psalm 91, the travelers prayer. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- Seg: Aris, I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore Colors whirled, and energy ebbed and flowed all about him. Selvane did not like the feeling of teleportion (it had only had happened to him once before as part of the training he designed), and this was the worst he had felt. It seemed as if electricity flowed through him, and fire coarsed across his skin. Eyes shut, fists clenched, Selvane plummeted. Suddenly, the feeling of sticking your finger in a light socket disappeared. Selvane opened his eyes, and was greeted with the view of fast approaching turf. He tucked and rolled with the impact. 'Oof,'. He stayed in his tucked position for a moment, waiting for the world to stop spinning. Gradually Selvane regained his senses and stood up a bit shakily, and looked around. The place was secluded. He had landed in a small clearing with trees about it. The place looked quite a bit like Earth. Green trees, green grass. Blue sky. Breathable atmosphere. All were things Selvane enjoyed greatly. Selvane drew his Gloc and slowly made his way around the perimeter of the place, looking for anything that was awry. Satisfied that nothing was about, Selvane scanned the horizon, mountains to East, and what looked like a city of some sort to the NorthWest. The ground between himself and the mountains, or the city was covered in snow. Something bothered him though. It took him a second to put his finger on it, but slowly realization spread acorss his Slavic features, 'I'm alone,' he whispered. 'Alone...' he said again a bit louder this time. Not that this bothered Selvane. He had lived a lot of his life alone in the wilderness, and could handle himself fine. Just the shock of realizing it and not knowing what the hell happened was a little bit much for the woodsman. Off to his left their was a crackling of energy, and Selvane quickly turned to see a portal open up about 10 feet above the ground, and the spandex clad lady who was behind him in line tumble out of it. She lay there for a second apparently feeling as sick as he did, then she quickly grabbed the sword that had fallen next to her. It seemed to offer her a lot of comfort. She stood up, and Selvane got a better look at her. She was quite shapely. Spandex does that. Other than the tight fitting uniform, she had a dagger sheath on her leg, the sword at her side, and a standard VRDET issue field pack. It would be good to have one of those, as had Selvane brought -his- standard field pack, and assortment of goodies he usually carried which complimented the assortment in a VRDET one. At that moment she seemed to notice him. Selvane shrugged and holstered his .45. 'Let's go make spandex lady feel welcome,' he muttered. They walked toward each other. Spandex lady spoke first. 'Well, shit. Hello, I'm Aris Merquoni, and I'm supposed to be the XO of this pleasure cruise. I don't personally know you, so I'd like a name... and an idea about our lovely situation here,' she said. He shrugged and took another glance at the horizon. 'I'm Selvane. This... doesn't seem to be Marraketh, at least not where we were heading for,' he said. Aris nodded. He continued, 'There looks to be a city over that way,' he pointed away from the mountains, 'but it looks like a long hike through a lot of snow. And,' he glanced at my spandex 'uniform,' 'you don't seem to be dressed for it.' 'To say the least,' she added , 'Plus, if you're feeling anything like I feel, and I'll wager you feel a good deal worse, we're both sick.' He nodded again. 'So, my vote is we stay right here by the trees, where we'll have some protection in case of a storm.' Good enough logic in any case, Selvane agreed. 'Seems resonable enough.' he looked about the trees, 'I scouted the perimeter. Looks like we're alone.' After the last sentence, snow began to fall. Selvane looked up and sighed. 'Last thing we need,' he muttered. Aris made a mad dash into the trees, and Selvane followed. Aris took a seat under what seemed to be a pine tree, meanwhile Selvane started to busy himself setting up a makeshift camp. The unhurried practiced motions suited Selvane. Gathering wood, and tinder comforted him. 'Looks like he's done this before,' Aris thought to herself. She shivered and Selvane looked over. 'Are you alright?' he asked. She nodded, and surprisingly Selvane cracked a wide grin, and chuckled a bit to himself. 'You don't have to act stronger than you really are. First thing you learn in the backwoods, is if you need something get it.' he paused and opened the satchel he had been carrying with him. 'I'm not..' Aris tried to interject, even though she knew he was right. Her flesh was goose bumpy, and tingly. Spandex wasn't a choice she'd make again in the future. Another smile cut her off. Despite the annoyance of being caught wrong, she started to like the amiable nature of the big woodsman. He dug around and pulled out a shiny space blanket and tossed it to her. 'Here. I won't need it.' 'I'll just use the one in the pack.' Aris refused. Another chuckle from Selvane. 'The VRDET issue survival gear isn't exactly the best in the world. It was acquired with... other things on the Council's mind. The base and all. They're planning to get better equipment later.' Aris shrugged and curled up under the blanket. Feeling a bit better. She still felt awful from the gate. Her own heat comforted her, and soon she was asleep. When Aris awoke, it was night. There was a fire crackling happily in front of them, and surprisingly a roof above her head. Pine boughs fashioned together were above her, the smell of it drifting down. She was feeling a lot better now, the effects of the gate had subsided. And then she noticed Selvane. His bag was next to her, but the burly Slav was just out of the protection of the lean-to. He was crouched and peering into the darkness, just beyond the fire. The glint of steel caught Aris' eye. The Gloc was in Selvane's hands.